Melanie Shirling

EcoINL

POINTS TOTAL

0 TODAY
0 THIS WEEK
338 TOTAL

participant impact

UP TO

54

meatless or vegan meals

consumed
UP TO

0.0

minutes

spent learning
UP TO

990

miles

traveled by bus
UP TO

280

gallons of water

have been saved
UP TO

5.6

pounds

food waste prevented
UP TO

124

pounds of CO2

have been saved
UP TO

990

miles

not traveled by car

Melanie's actions

Health

Happiness

I will write down three things every day that I am grateful for, or send one email every day thanking or praising someone.

COMPLETED 0
DAILY ACTIONS

Transportation

Use Public Transit

I will use public transit 99 mile(s) each day and avoid sending up to 11.25 lbs of CO2 into Earth's atmosphere.

COMPLETED 0
DAILY ACTIONS

Create Your Own Action

NO TP

I WILL only use water and cloth wipes that can be washed, for at least the duration of the challenge. I did this last year, and eventually got away from it being lazy. it doesn't take any extra washing, because they go in with my whites to be washed in hot water and bleach. Good time to renew this habit.

COMPLETED 0
DAILY ACTIONS

Food

Reduce Animal Products

I will enjoy 3 meatless meal(s) and/or 3 vegan meal(s) each day this week.

COMPLETED 0
DAILY ACTIONS

Food

Weekly Meal Planning

I will reduce food waste and save money by prepping for 3 meal(s) each day, only buying the ingredients I need.

COMPLETED -1
DAILY ACTIONS

Participant Feed

Reflection, encouragement, and relationship building are all important aspects of getting a new habit to stick.
Share thoughts, encourage others, and reinforce positive new habits on the Feed.

To get started, share “your why.” Why did you join the challenge and choose the actions you did?

REFLECTION QUESTION
Health Happiness

How does/can practicing gratitude keep you centered and motivated to work for a better world?

Melanie Shirling 10/10/2019 10:58 AM

It sure helps you be a more positive influence for not only yourself but the people around you. You get more work done if you are grateful for the things you have, the job you have, the people you work with... the home you have, the people in your home... When I'm not taking things for granted (my job, my home, my husband) then I certainly take better care of them, and they me.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Transportation Use Public Transit

The US spends roughly 20% of its federal budget on defense. In contrast, 2% goes to education, 20% goes to social security and 3% goes to transportation infrastructure. Do these numbers surprise you at all? Why or why not? How would you adjust them if you could?

Melanie Shirling 10/10/2019 10:56 AM

Good grief! Yes, this surprises me. 2% goes to education?? No wonder these are our choices for political figures. This adds up to 45%. Where's the other money? I'd definitely raise the education budget. I'm not sure if raising social security would help. There needs to be something done about social security for sure, like huge reductions in costs for elder care, better care for veterans, things like that. If we raised what we gave to social security, I would be afraid that the costs would just go up anyway. Bottom line is that we need better education here.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Food Reduce Animal Products

Why do people in richer countries eat more meat than people in other places? How does eating more meat affect our planet and other people?

Melanie Shirling 10/10/2019 10:51 AM

I wish I knew the answer to that question. More meat eating affects the soil, water, greenhouse emissions... cow farming attributes up to 10% of the greenhouse gas problem globally.

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Melanie Shirling 10/02/2019 1:22 PM

This is not going to happen at work, but at home, it's working great.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
High Impact Action Track Research Impact Investing

How might impact investing help you better live your values?

Melanie Shirling 10/02/2019 1:20 PM

It gives a deeper understanding of what we are doing and why, not just a thing to do.

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Melanie Shirling 10/02/2019 6:35 AM

This is my favorite kind of challenge.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Food Weekly Meal Planning

An average American throws out about 240 lbs of food per year. The average family of four spends $1,500 a year on food that they throw out. Does this surprise you? Where would you rather use this money?

Melanie Shirling 10/02/2019 6:34 AM

I'd rather use that money on a trip with my husband!

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Melanie Shirling 9/20/2019 12:44 PM

I love the changes I made for the last challenge, and hope to incorporate more this year v

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